Brandenburg's State Premier and SPD top candidate in the regional elections in Brandenburg, Dietmar Woidke (2L), arrives for a television interview after the publication of the exit polls in Potsdam, eastern Germany on September 22, 2024, during regional state elections in the eastern German state of Brandenburg. Chancellor Scholz's Social Democrats were narrowly ahead of the far-right AfD in a closely-fought regional election Sunday in Germany's formerly communist east, according to exit polls. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP) (Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)